Bohemian Rhapsody
by Jonas-Rentheads
Summary: Eight friends. One extraordinary year. Based on the amazing movie and broadway RENT. Smitchie, Taitlyn, Nason.
1. Chapter 1

**--Bohemian Rhapsody--**

A thin snowfall coated the filthy streets of New York City.

Sander Loya pushed his glasses up his nose and rubbed his hands together in an attempt for warmth. He looked around at all the people on the street. The rushing yuppies, talking on their cell phones about mergers and yachts; the stoners, laughing and walking slowly across the paths; and then there were the homeless, sad and lonely.

Sander sighed, these poor people. He began to wind up his ancient camera as he continued looking around.

"December 24th, 9pm. Eastern standard time. From here on in, I shoot without a script. See if anything comes of it...Instead of my old shit..." He gently placed the camera back on his bike and jumped on, riding though the alleyways to get back to the loft.

"_How do you document real life when real life is getting more like fiction each day? Headlines -- bread-lines! Blow my mind! And now this deadline "Eviction -- or pay "Rent!!!"_

Sander grimaced at the eviction notices. Picking one off the pole, he scrunched it up in his hand and threw it in the beige messenger bag hanging off his shoulder.

-

Shane Gray sat in his and Sander's loft, his brow furrowed in concentration. He strummed _Musetta's Waltz_ on his Fender guitar before placing it down in frustration. Another power outage.

"_How do you write a song when the chords sound wrong, though they once sounded, right and rare? When the notes are sour, where is the power you once had to ignite the air?" _Shane heard a loud knock from the door.

Shane jumped off the table and opened the door for Sander who barged in, shoving the crumpled eviction notice in Shane's face.

"_We're hungry and frozen!"_ Exclaimed Sander in anger. Shane grabbed the eviction notice out of Sander's hands and his eyes scanned over it. He rolled his eyes in anger, throwing it to the side.

"_Some life that we've chosen!"_ He screamed back. They looked at each other, flames of anger dancing in their eyes. They sighed furiously.

"_How we gonna pay, How we gonna pay, How we gonna pay, Last year's rent?!"_ The phone's ring interrupted cut rang through the apartment, Sander jumped over the obstacles on the floor to reach it. "Hello?" He answered, the anger fleeing from his voice.

"Hey guess whose back in town? It's Nate, man. Throw down the key!" Sander smiled and ran outside onto the fire escape, spotting Nathaniel Addison; he dropped the keys down to him and waved. Nate shot him a jovial smile and put the keys in his mouth while straightening up his bag.

"Hey, got a light?" Nate looked up to see three seedy looking men. He nervously pulled out his lighter and opened it.

"Sure man." Once it was out of his pocket, one of the men punched him in the stomach while the other went for his bag. Nate made a quick escape, running down an alleyway. Unfortunately, the men were smarter than he thought, running after him, they cornered him, pushing him to the floor, they began to take his few belongings. Nate fought back weakly, but they were too strong. Eventually, he gave up and let them take all of his things.

-

Shane rubbed his hands together, like Sander had previously done, trying to create some warmth in the dark loft.

"_How do you start a fire, when there's nothing to burn, and it feels like something's stuck in your flue?" _Shane sang in fury. He was practically shivering with nothing to cover him but the leather jacket he had thrown on. He blamed this all on the bitch called fate, she was finally getting him back for all the crap he had done when he was a teenager.

"_How do you generate heat, when you can't feel your feet-?!" _Sander sprinted over to Shane, replying to his complaint with one of his own. Though Shane didn't realize it, Sander was actually colder than him, with his frail frame and thin jacket with his even thinner classic blue and white scarf; he was chilled to the bone.

"_And they're turning blue!"_ The unlikely pair sang in unison. The two grabbed the large metal barrel from the corner of the loft, placing it in the middle of loft were it was well away from the 'crap' (as Shane had bluntly put it) scattered around the apartment.

"_You light up a mean blaze!"_

"_With posters!"_ Shane threw in the bad memories, posters with his face on it, advertising gigs at CBGB's and the Pyramid club.

"_And screenplays!" _Sander piped up, throwing the many unsuccessful screenplays into the large barrel.

Shane struck a match and threw it into the barrel, the flames danced, lighting up the dark loft.

"_How we gonna pay, How we gonna pay, How we gonna pay, Last year's rent?" _

-

Nate collapsed back against the wall, another failed attempt at getting back up.

"_How do you stay on your feet, When on every street, It's 'trick or treat', And tonight it's 'trick', 'Welcome back to town', Oh, I should lie down, Everything's brown, And uh – oh, I feel sick!"_

-

Sander looked out over the cold streets of New York from the fire escape.

"_Where is he?"_

-

Nate snapped his eyes shut and leaned his head against the wall.

"_Gettin' dizzy"_

-

"_How we gonna pay? How we gonna pay? How we gonna pay? Last year's rent!"_

Sander smiled cynically, reading a line off one of his screenplays.

"_The music ignites the night, with passionate fire!" _Shane snatched the script off him.

"_The narration crackles and pops with incendiary wit!" _Shane mocked.

Sander grabbed his camera, zooming in on the fire. A smile grew on his face; he was truly getting into it now.

"_Zoom in as they burn the past to the ground."_ He narrated, Shane joined in.

"_And feel the heat of the future glow."_

Sander and Shane looked at each other, before grabbing the barrel in their hands, keeping clear of the flames. They brought it out to the fire escape to see the rest of the tenants with their own eviction notices, lighting them on fire and throwing them down on the now busy streets over Alphabet City.

"_How do you leave the past behind, When it keeps finding ways to get to your heart, It reaches way down deep and tears you inside out, Till you're torn apart, Rent!" _Sander and Shane grabbed the barrel; the burning material fell down gracefully with all the other burning eviction notices. Sander clutched onto the edge of the fire escape, looking down at the beautiful flames.

"_How can you connect in an age where strangers, landlords, lovers, your own blood cells betray, what binds the fabric together when the raging shifting winds of change keep ripping away! Rent!" _Shane and Sander saw the familiar gas guzzling Range Rover drive up. They groaned, they were in for it now.

"_Draw a line in the sand and then make a stand!!"_ Barron yelled. Jumping out of his Range Rover, he backed into it as the angry tenants surrounded him, chanting "_We're not gonna pay!"_ He regained his composure, glaring at his two former friends on the fire escape. Shane shot him a cynical grin, while Sander visibly tensed, thinking of all the horrible things Barron could do to them.

Shane turned to Sander, the same cynical grin plastered on his face_. "Use your camera to spar!"_ Sander's eyes widened, was he joking? His precious little baby girl?! With a new fire in his eyes, he replied back to Shane.

"_Use your guitar!"_

"_When they act tough, you call their bluff! We're not gonna pay, we're not gonna pay, we're not gonna pay."_ The tenants inched closer to their, oh so benevolent, landlord. If you could call him that...

"_Last year's rent! This year's rent! Next year's rent! RENT, RENT, RENT, RENT, RENT! We're not gonna pay rent! Cause everything is RENT!" _

The tenants surrounded Barron, yelling obscenities at them. Eventually, he made his way out of the group. He looked up at the top floor's fire escape, and grimaced at the two bohemians perched on the fire escape, laughing at him. Barron raised his hand and motioned for them to come down.

Sander bit his lip.

He knew something like this would happen...

**A/N- OH GOD! FINALLY! I FINISHED IT! Golf claps, as Angel would say. So yay.**

**A/N 2 – Sweet! That's chapter one, guys. Courtesy of the amazing Scarves. My chapter is next, no pressure or anything, right? Lol. Remember to review, thanks!**

**Jonas-Rentheads**


	2. Chapter 2

Not much to say, except for sorry for the wait. Oh, and don't worry about how similar this is to RENT. It will be different, we were just trying to start it off sounding good. It'll still be pretty similar, but we're trying to think of things to add to it. Thanks so much for reading and remember to review!

Disclaimer: We don't own RENT or Camp Rock. Sad, isn't it?

* * *

"Guys, come down here. I need to talk to you." Barron yelled up at Shane and Sander, shaking his head as he looked over to check on his precious vehicle. "Hey, bum! Get your ass off the Range Rover!"

The man looked up at Barron, as if just noticing him and glared. He hit his car with a sound 'thump!' before stalking away and muttering something that sounded quite similar to 'asshole.'

"Hey, Barron! You know, that attitude towards the homeless is exactly what Caitlyn is protesting." Sander had seen the event and looked over to see if Shane had too. Of course, he had, and by the looks of it, wanted to jump off the fire escape and attack Barron.

Perfect. Just perfect. Confrontation on Christmas Eve; how lovely.

"Caitlyn is protesting losing her performance space, not my attitude. Now get down here, I need to talk to you."

Sander held his arm out to stop Shane from jumping and practically dragged him away from the fire escape, down the stairs to see their ex-best friend.

"Thanks for turning off our power, Barron. Really, some friend you are." Shane seethed.

Barron laughed lightly as he looked at the two worn down bohemians standing in front of him. "Got your attention, didn't it?"

"Oh, yeah? I'm about to get your attention, too! With a fist in your face!" Once again, Sander had to hold back his friend.

"Still have a temper, I see." Shane's nostrils flared at Barron's statement. "No, Shane, you actually look pretty good for a guy coming off a year of withdrawal."

"What do you want?" Sander cut in before Shane could follow through with his threat.

"What do I want? Well, my investor-"

"You mean your father-in-law?" Shane spat with a smug smirk.

"Right, read about Caitlyn's protest in the Village Voice, got pissed, and sent me down to collect the rent."

"What rent?"

"This past year's rent that I let slide."

"Let slide?! You said we were golden!" Sander exclaimed. Barron had promised they wouldn't have to pay, how could he do this to them? He knew they had no money.

"Yeah, when you bought the building. You know, when we were roommates." Shane shoved himself off of the car that he was previously seated on. If Barron wasn't going to follow through on his promise, why should he follow through with not knocking him out right then and there?

Barron took a step back from Shane's shaking form and noticed all of the posters on the brick wall advertising Caitlyn's protest next to them. He immediately began pulling them all down and wadding them into trash. "Oh yes, how could I forget? You, me, Nate, and Caitlyn. How is the drama queen?"

"Like you care." Shane humphed, and leaned back against the car.

Sander shot him a look before answering Barron with a small shrug. "She's getting ready for her performance."

"No shit." Shane coughed.

Sander shot him another glare. Shane reciprocated with an innocent smile.

"Oh. Still her production manager?"

"Not exactly."

Shane started to chuckle. He knew where this was going. And the next question would be...

"You still dating her?"

The best question he could've asked. In Shane's opinion, anyways.

"I was dumped." Sander sighed.

Barron turned around to face the two now, a smile starting to appear. "She got a new man?"

"No." Sander looked down to hide his embarrassment.

Shane smirked at Barron and shook his head as well. That was one thing he missed about being friends with him, the only thing probably. He loved to pick on Sander, too.

Barron noticed the look in Shane's eyes and inferred that Sander was lying. His smile grew. "What's his name?"

"Tess." Shane and Sander responded in unison.

"Tess?" Barron was confused for a second, then understood and started to laugh.

"Thanks for being so understanding." Sander muttered, now visibly embarrassed.

Shane scoffed. "You expect sympathy from the guy who shut off our power on Christmas Eve? Like the bum said before, he's an asshole."

"And, like I said before, got your attention, didn't it?" Barron continued to laugh at their expense.

Shane had had enough, he wasn't going to just punch Barron, no, he was going to _kill_ him. He pushed himself off of the car again and stalked over towards Barron. Sander flew in front of him to stop his friend from killing the other man. Even as he held him back, he could tell that Shane had something to say.

"_What happened to Barron, what happened to his heart? And the ideals he once pursued_?" he yelled.

Barron got right up in Shane's face, completely ignoring Sander who was now trying to hold them both back. "_The owner of that lot next door has the right to do with it as he pleases_."

"_Happy Birthday, Jesus_!" Shane pushed away from the other two, clearly done with the businessman.

"_The rent_?" He threw the wadded fliers at Shane's back to get him to look at him.

Shane controlled the urge to go back over to Barron and knock him on his ass. Not an easy feat.

Sander nodded at Shane in understanding. "_You're wasting your time_."

"_We're broke_!"

"_And you broke your word_!"

"_This is absurd_." Shane slammed his fist into the nearest traffic sign.

Barron looked at them thoughtfully for a moment before coming to a decision. "_There is one way you won't have to pay_."

"_I knew it_." Shane whispered to Sander.

"_Next door, the home of Cyber Arts, you see. And now that the block is rezoned, our dreams can become a reality_." Barron began to explain. "_You'll see boys, you'll see boys. A state of the art, digital, virtual interactive studio. I'll forgo your rent, and on paper guarantee that you can stay here for free, if you do me one small favor_."

Sander sighed, he was not going to like this. "What?"

"Simple, convince Caitlyn to cancel her protest." Barron said like it was nothing. Of course he wouldn't care about it, he didn't even like them anymore. He was only giving him the offer out of obligation, wasn't he?

"Why not just get an injunction, or call the cops?" Sander reasoned. He couldn't do that to Caitlyn, he just couldn't.

"I did, and they're on standby," Barron went on, "_But my investors would rather I handle this quietly_."

This phrase pissed Shane off to no end. "You can't quietly wipe out an entire tent city, then watch 'It's a Wonderful Life' on TV!" he screamed.

"_You want to produce films and write songs? You need somewhere to do it! It's what we used to dream about! Think twice before you pooh-pooh it. You'll see boys_." Barron tried to reason. "_You'll see boys. You'll see - the beauty of a studio that lets us do our work and get paid. With condos on the top, whose rent keeps open our shop. Just stop the protest and you'll have it made_."

Shane opened his mouth to argue again, but Barron's next words cut him short.

"_You'll see - _Or you'll pack." Barron didn't even give them time to reply before he jumped into his car and sped down the road.

* * *

Meanwhile, not so far away, a young, attractive man was sitting on the side of a building playing drums on an old bucket, trying to earn a little cash to survive.

Someone dropped a bit of spare change on the ground by him and he stopped playing to pick it up. With a bright smile, he yelled, "Merry Christmas!" at the person before they got too far away.

He started to play again when he heard banging on something metal down the alley a little ways.

Gathering his things together, he walked towards the sound and stopped when he could no longer hear it. "Hello?"

He continued walking until he saw a man sitting up against the side of the building, barely able to hold himself up, coughing.

"Oh my god! Are you okay, honey?" he yelled as he ran towards him, getting there just in time before he fell over against the hard concrete.

The man coughed again and gave a weak smile. "Afraid so."

"Did they get anything, or-?"

"No, I didn't have any money, but they took my stuff. All my stuff. Everything I owned is...gone." he seemed so helpless, he knew he had to help him.

He leaned forward with a damp cloth, trying to wipe away the blood on the man's face, only for him to reach up and push his hand away before he could.

"I'm fine." He was in pain, the young man could tell, but he was far too proud to show it, wiping it away on his rough jean jacket sleeve.

"I'm Jason." The young man said softly.

"Jason?" His voice came out as little more than a whisper. He cleared his throat and began to talk again. "My friends call me Nate. Nathanial, Nathanial Addison."

"Nice to meet you, Nate. Let's get you cleaned up." He said with a sweet smile and tried to lift the other man up.

Nate winced as Jason grabbed his arm. He hurt all over, but there was no way he'd ever admit that to him. He didn't know why, but there was something about Jason, something that made it seem like he could trust him. It must've been his obvious innocence.

When Nate was on his two feet again, he let out a cry of pain. Everything still hurt. Great, just great.

"Sweetheart, I sort of have to hurry. I have a life support meeting to go to." Jason explained as he gently, but quickly led Nate back out of the alley.

"Life support?" Nate looked at the other man in question.

"Yeah. It's for people with AIDS, people like me." Jason cheerily looked at Nate.

Nate looked at Jason incredulously. How could that fact not bother the man? How could he be so cheery about the terminal disease? He couldn't help but smile at the man's optimism. It was something he certainly didn't possess as he spit out his next words. "Me too."

* * *

And voila! The end of chapter two, what'd you guys think? Good, bad, too much like the movie? Oh, FYI, we're basing this on the movie, not the broadway show, it's a lot easier that way. We've found that, unfortunately, more people have seen the movie than the play, so that's that. Umm.....please review and we'll update soon! - Riley


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